BDS Final Year Guide by Nida Ayub Khan

- Nida 

General advice:

Final year is very hectic with a mountain load of syllabus.  The smart way to go about it is to study the particular subject with your clinical rotation. Because in the end final year is all about self study. And also on the other hand put in your maximum to Learn the technical skills and complete your quotas on time.

PROSTHODONTICS:

Foreword: most of Prostho only makes sense once you've worked in the clinics. So don't fret if you don't get a word of it before your rotation and hence utilise your rotation to the max by studying the theory concomitantly too. 
Okay so Prostho is one subject with the shortest course and hence easier to manage. Also it is one subject which has the highest frequency of repeated past paper questions. It is wise to divide it into three components:

1. Partial denture.2. Complete dentures.

3. Remaining stuff (max fac prosthesis, combination syndrome,  every and spoon dentures etc)

Start with partial dentures because there are few colleges which teach it in final year. In other words you gotta prepare it completely on your own. McCrackens is the standard book but it seems a bit hard to grasp if you're reading it for the first time.  I would suggest to supplement it with Dr Sajid Naeem's (LMDC) notes. Go through the notes before studying that particular chapter from McCrackens.  It makes the book whole more palatable. Also prepare past paper questions after
every topic.

Complete dentures:

A combination of Boucher (both editions) and Jaypee works. You can go through Manapalil too but it was too concise for my taste. Boucher ke tables and boxes are a must.  Also chapters like sequelae of denture wearing,  anatomic considerations, materials used in Prostho, immediate dentures do these chaps from boucher latest edition. From the older edition, go through chapters which are not in the current edition (tally from the index! ) the rest is to be done from Jaypee. 

Others: (denture cleaning, relining rebasing, maxillofacial prosthesis, every,spoon, immediate, over dentures,  combination syndrome)
Best book for this is Manapalil because it is concise and to the point. Lekin do go through the classifications given in Jaypee.

For quick revision again Dr. Sajid's notes are very helpful.

OPERATIVE DENTISTRY

Alright, so many students fear operative dentistry because of its vast syllabus but the fact is that it's the easiest to tackle if you know how to study smart.

Operative has four components: RESTORATIVE ENDODONTICS PEDODONTICS FIXED PROSTHODONTICS

Let's go by each component. I'll start with the easiest first so it appears to be more manageable.

PEDODONTICS:

This one is the smallest and easiest component of all. With one seq and 5 mcqs (approximately) in every exam. 

The best way to go about it is read your teacher's lectures. And if you have a lot of time or if it's not taught properly in your college, just go through the past papers. The book for pedo is JAYPEE though only a small portion of it is necessary. Namely:

Caries and theories (CD wali) Behavior management theories and techniques Restorative (mainly matrices used in peds and stainless steel crowns) Anesthetics dose calculation in children And trauma to teeth in children (pulpotomy/pulpotomy/classification)

This alone should cover peds and won't take two days at max.

FIXED PROSTHODONTICS (CROWNS AND BRIDGES)

Your go to book is Smith. Though many teachers do not recommend it but according to past papers it has direct questions out of this book. Memorize the headings and read the content in between.

Do not miss out on the diagrams and tables either. Especially those covering indications/contraindications/advantages/disadvantages (especially for bridges. Also add types of bridges to this). Types of temporary crowns is another important topic to be done from this book.

If you want to be thorough in your prep you need to supplement it with the book "Rosential" It has pretty amazing end of chapter summative tables which should not be missed. Basically for tooth preps/principles of tooth prep for different types of crowns you need to memorize these tables.

Also the second volume of this book has a chapter of "pontics" which should not be missed either. Especially the tables.

And again the tables of bridges related chapters from this book (resin bonded) should be learnt too. It seems a lot to take in but to be extremely thorough would take three days max.

ENDODONTICS:

This is one component of Operative dentistry which should be studied along with what is being taught in college. Because if you leave out till the end, it can be pretty overwhelming. Your main is Torabinejad. It beautifully explains everything which seems to be lacking in Harty's ( I don't even know why people study from this one except for surgical endodontics).

However few colleges follow Grossman very religiously. It has pretty amazing tables surely but can seem a bit too much. A smart combination of tables of Grossman and Tora can get you a long way. Supplement it with observing a few root canals during your clinical rotation and everything will fall into place.

For the important topics you basically need to focus on the root canal steps and procedures. Often a scenario of procedural accidents during RCTs is given in the exams. Make sure you know the types of procedural accidents, their causes and how to tackle them.

Another main topic is trauma to the teeth. Uncomplicated/complicated fracture/intrusion/luxation/avulsion. All of this is covered nicely in a handout. I've uploaded it on Dropbox. Here's the link: https://db.tt/Ql71QZg0

Baqi clinical endo tests and their interpretations. clinical presentations and diagnosis of endo conditions. Partial/completw pulpectomy/pulp capping . You should go through these too.

RESTORATIVE: Ah. The fun part. The best way to go about this one is to read, understand AND learn it during your rotation coz that's when you'd be able to relate to a lot of steps and procedures. The only book you need to study is ART AND SCIENCE-LATEST EDITION.

Few senior teachers still follow Marzouk but it's such an antediluvain book that it's not worth it. Art and science makes everything much more palatable. Okay so before you start anything else. It's extremely important to cram the principles of tooth prep chapter in art and science. This will form the basis of all your restorative knowledge. Do it well.

The amalgam and composite units (yes the whole thing) forms the major chunk of the book and should be done during your clinical rotation otherwise you'd be in deep trouble. Other than that, chapters like caries, instruments, veneers, staining and discoloration are very brief and can be covered easily.

The tricky part for me was complex amalgam restorations. Pins and posts. Pins are explained nicely but do that only when you're done with the rest of the material because that's the only way it will make sense.

Posts is the only topic for which I would peruse Marzouk. It's a bit technical but then read it a few times and you will be able to get the hang of it.

Now for the mcqs portion, you need to read the main coursebooks well and of course dentogist gives you good practice. I also went to Dental Decks whose MCQS with explanation added to my knowledge.

The only tough part about operative is revising it before the proff. Those two days are gonna be the most gruelling of your life. Be prepared for that. But trust me, give it your best shot and all the effort shall be worth it in the end.

Good luck! This shall be a breeze. Just study smart and let not the fear of extensive course keep you from giving your best.

ORAL SURGERY: This is a very straightforward subject. You have two basic books.

For local anesthesia-malamed For surgery itself-Tucker

Local anesthesia: This should be done at the beginning of your clinical rotation. Many colleges make you do it in third year already so most of you have probably gone through this. You just need to know the basics. Techniques of different types of local anesthetic injections the most important being infiltration, inferior alveolar nerve block and posterior superior alveolar nerve block. Also the complications and reasons for failure of LA and how to overcome them. Some teachers may also question about the anatomy of the nerves to be anesthesized. Contents of the LA cartridge. Dosage calculation. That's almost pretty much it.

SURGERY: Tucker hands down. Cover-to-cover. With emphasis on the charts tables and diagrams.

Though what I personally felt was that the trauma section wasn't adequately covered in Tucker. Maxillofacial fractures could have been better explained, so could have been the TMJ. For that I went through the book Nilemma. And if you're a surgery junkie like me, this book is the answer to your prayers. Everything is beautifully explained. But for this you should have a lot of time on your hands. For Trauma Dr Samir Qazi's handouts work out pretty well too. He has a group on Facebook and that is a must follow. Name: Oral Surgery Study Group

That's about it! Enjoy the clinics for they are the, unanimously, very best rotation of final year!